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Canadian Mining in
Asia
as a Dirty Business
In today’s commercialized
culture, love is often expressed through gifts of 18-karat gold rings, pendants or necklaces.
The means employed in the extraction of the gem, however, are far from
romantic.
BY EDWIN C. MERCURIO
Bulatlat
TORONTO,
Canada
– Hidden from the watchful eyes of the North American and European public,
the operations of transnational mining corporations are considered
unacceptable by Church groups and NGOs. Such operations are
environmentally and culturally destructive and violate the fundamental
tenets of ancestral land rights of indigenous peoples. They also disregard
the health of citizens in underdeveloped countries.
In a forum titled
“Mining: The Dirty Role of Canadian Corporations” last October 6 at St.
Vladimir Institute in Toronto, Canadian Church, labor and community
leaders presented a background on the operations of Canadian mining
corporate activities in the developing countries of Asia and their impact
on the economy, politics and environment of the region.
Bern Jagunos of the
United Church of Canada and the Philippine Solidarity Group of Toronto
addressed the issue of foreign mining interests and the ongoing
militarization in the Philippines.
Placer Dome’s (Marcopper)
broken promises
Jagunos who hails
from the Philippines spoke about the environmental disaster caused by
Marcopper Mine which is 40% owned by Vancouver-based Placer Dome. Marcopper
which operated in the heart-shaped island
of Marinduque for more than 30
years has evoked fear about the risks of mine tailings dumped by the
company into the Calancan Bay.
That fear has turned
into anger when in March 1996, more than three million tons of toxic mine
tailings spilled into Boac river, killing all aquatic life and destroying
the homes and properties of the communities around it. At that time, a
badly sealed tunnel in an old mine tailings pit burst open and gorged its
toxic contents.
“Placer Dome
recognized its responsibility and promised to clean up the river within
six months. The company dredged a channel at the ocean mouth of Boac river
to catch the tailings flowing down the river. However, because the coast
was already previously covered with tailings from the spill, the channel
was filled to capacity within months, causing further deterioration of the
coast,” Jagunos said.
Placer Dome twice
applied for permit to dump the tailings into the sea using Submarine
Tailings Disposal or STD, a method of disposal not allowed in Canada.
“Twice, the application was denied by the Philippine government on the
grounds that all offshore and submarine areas in the country are
environmentally delicate and critical. The company was ordered to complete
the clean up, rehabilitation and compensation of the victims. It refused
to accept the ruling and halted all work on the river.”
The 1996 spill was
not the first calamity caused by Placer Dome in Marinduque.
In 1993, a siltation
dam collapsed pouring toxic mine waste into Mogpog river. That disaster
killed all marine life and caused flooding which destroyed the rich
farming areas along the river.
Toronto Ventures
Inc. strong arm tactics
Calgary-based mining
company Toronto Ventures Incorporated (TVI), Pacific
Incorporated is
accused harassing the Subanen indigenous people in the province of
Zamboanga del Norte.
“Violent dispersal, physical assault and harassment, illegal entry, food
and economic blockades, illegal arrests and detention of Subanen people
who opposed the mining operation” have been documented by various local
and international groups.
Crew Development
Corp. in Mangyan ancestral lands
Crew Development
Corp. which is based in Vancouver acquired the gold mine concession in the
island of
Mindoro when it merged and later got full
ownership of the Norwegian company Mindex in 1999.
In December 2000, a
Crew subsidiary, Aglubang Mineral Corporation, was granted a Mineral
Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA), granting it the right to explore and
develop over 2,200 hectares of the concession area for 25 years. A
substantial portion of Crew’s mining concession overlaps with the
ancestral domain of the indigenous Mangyan peoples.
Mindoro is considered
as the third largest food producing province in the
Philippines.
The island’s watershed is critical for the irrigation of 70% of the rice
farms, fruit trees and drinking water source. It is also one of the top
bio-diversity sites in the world.
The fate of Tablas
Strait hang precariously on edge as “Crew plans to dump about four million
mine tailings into the sea at Tablas Strait using Submarine Tailings
Disposal, the same strait where Placer Dome dumped tailings from its
spill. When that happens, all of these natural resources will be
threatened with destruction. This will in turn result in the massive
displacement of indigenous Mangyan people,” Jagunos said.
Public opinion
against the environmentally destructive mine tailings disposal galvanized
the opposition to the plan. Those opposing include the Roman Catholic
bishop, priests and religious groups, Protestant churches, people’s
organizations, indigenous peoples, farmers, NGOs, professionals, human
rights workers. A broad coalition was formed which also drew support from
the provincial government and municipal councils.
Due to overwhelming
public opposition, the Philippine government was forced to revoke Crew’s
MPSA in July 2001 citing the need to protect critical watersheds and the
food security of the province. In January 2002, the provincial government
passed an ordinance banning all forms of Mining in Mindoro for 25
years.
Mining divides
communities
According to Jagunos,
the mining projects divided the communities in all three cases. The
Indigenous People’s Rights Act in the Philippines (IPRA) stipulates that
mining companies must secure the free and prior approval of the affected
communities.
In Mindoro,
after Mindex/Crew was told by the Philippine National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) that the best way to secure support for the mine
was to set up a new Mangyan people’s association, it formed an association
called Kabilogan (the whole community) composed mainly of Mindex/Crew
employees, including its chair.
Leaders and members
of the new organization admitted to receiving rewards from the company in
the form of water buffalos, agricultural machinery and cash.
After the new
association held a meeting inside company premises and issued a statement
of support for the mine, NCIP issued a certification that the Crew
subsidiary Aglubang Mining Co. had the approval of the community.
In Zamboanga del
Norte, a similar divide-and-rule tactic was used by Toronto Ventures Inc.
After years of failing to secure the support of the Subanon Sioco
Association in the concession area, employees of the company and
supporters including Subanon from another community, with TVI support,
attempted to take over the Association and replace the leadership with
company workers and supporters.
In Marinduque, Placer
Dome Inc. (PDI) commissioned a Social Impact Assessment which reported
that giving generous compensation to the spill victims would encourage
dependency. PDI then employed local NGOs to recruit community support
behind Placer Dome’s proposed development projects. Those who questioned
it were labeled anti-development.
At the same time,
“PDI denied its responsibility for lost livelihood of fisherfolk in
Calancan Bay and farmers in Mogpog. It also denied culpability for cases
of metal poisoning and other illnesses affecting some villagers,” Jagunos
said.
In the Boac,
Marinduque case, “ the committee which oversees compensation continued to
delay paying the victims. It now required victims to pass a lie detector
test,” according to Jagunos. “An October 2001 report by the consultant
hired by Placer Dome to assess all dams and structures at the mine site
came out with the findings that five structures need urgent repairs and a
dam on the mountain in Mogpog and a tailing pit were in such a bad shape
that collapse was very certain in the near future resulting in certain
loss of lives downstream.
The Philippine
government ordered Placer Dome and the local company to fix the structures
or face criminal charges should another disaster occur. In December 2001,
Placer Dome completely left the Philippines without warning and failed to
fix the dangerous structures until today.
Militarization and human rights violations
“The manipulative tactics of these
Canadian mining companies gave rise to violence and grave human rights
violations,” Jagunos explained.
Last March, protesters who were trying to
prevent the start of TVI’s mine operation by blocking the entry of
equipment to the mine site were fired at by company security guards.
Twelve people, mostly indigenous people, were arrested.
In the mid-1990s, the company deployed at
least 100 armed security guards, set up check points along the roads
leading into the community of the Subanen tribe and for seven years
imposed a blockade which prevented food and other basic necessities from
going into the community. People who attempted to cross the barricade were
shot and injured. Company security guards spiked foot trails with hidden
nails.
In Mindoro,
the entry of Mindex/Crew also showed the sharp increase of militarization
in the province.
After 9/11, the government used the
pretext of “War against Terror” to deploy more troops in Mindoro.
The government exploited the situation in
Mindoro
to go after political opposition and critics of the government, including
human rights workers. Thirty people have been killed in
Mindoro
since 2001 including leaders and members of organizations in the coalition
opposing the Crew’s project.
Role of the Canadian Government
“Despite all these, the Canadian
government continues to support TVI/Crew.
Two days after the Philippine Government
revoked the permit of Crew in July 2001, Canadian Ambassador to the
Philippines, Robert Collete, wrote to President (Gloria) Macapagal-Arroyo
to protest the revocation. Collette also accompanied Crew’s CEO to visit
the governor of Mindoro to discuss the latter’s opposition to the mine,”
Jagunos said.
The Philippine Mining Act of 1995
The Mining Act of 1995 signed by then
President Fidel Ramos aims to attract foreign mining companies to exploit
mineral resources in the country. It liberalized the mining industry by
removing restrictions and offering numerous incentives such as tax
holidays and easement rights – meaning the right of mining companies to
remove settlers and indigenous peoples from their ancestral abode.
Almost 10 years of resistance by churches,
communities and social movements appeared to have paid off as the
Philippine Supreme Court declared in January 2004 that several provisions
of the Mining Act of 1995 violate the constitution. However, two months
after the Supreme Court ruling, the Macapagal -Arroyo administration
reversed its decision that revoked Crew’s mining permit.
Indeed, the struggle of communities
affected by Canadian Mining companies continues. Bulatlat
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